Lots of Cutting

Not much sewing machine work happened last week.

But I spent several hours at the cutting table.  These should be enough units for the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge to keep me in mindless sewing for a while.  Each pile is approximately 10 blocks.  

I also got the fabric for the alternate blocks cut into strips and ready for sub-cutting into 2 ½ inch squares.  

This is one of those times I really appreciated my die cutter.

We had some rain in the past few weeks, and we could tell that enough dirt had washed into the skunk hole that it was not active.  I filled in as much dirt as I could.  Then I layered old gutter guard webbing and weighted it down with concrete chunks and rocks.  It’s not pretty, but is positioned between the AC unit and house wall, so well hidden.

My two 98 cent tomato plants are producing.  They turned out to be a vining, indeterminant variety and have taken over one of my flower beds.  At least they are paying for my investment!

Turtles, Thrift Blocks and Orchid Blooms

I managed to piece more than 50 blocks this week.  That just about exhausts the kitted blocks I prepared prior to the quilt retreat a couple of weeks ago.  They go a little faster now that I'm working on them at home and using my preferred sewing machine.  The cutting table has been pulled out of its nook in the laundry room.  I hope to get more blocks kitted for stitching this week.  

 

Last Tuesday was a two-turtle day.  Every year about this time, the turtles in our neighborhood start getting frisky.  I think both these were probably females looking for a place to lay their eggs.  This one was in front of the house and I let him/her just keep on trucking.

 

This one, however, required a rescue because he/she was inside the backyard fence.  All I’ve ever seen my dogs do is stand there and bark at them continually, but I was happy I discovered this one before they did.

 

For the third time this year, the orchid Julia gave me for my birthday several years ago has put on blooms.  I think it really likes being surrounded by glass bricks on two sides.  It recently lost two leaves, so I am a little concerned about it.

 

This was a week of catching up on yearly commitments, and I elected to cut back on attending some activities in order to keep from being overwhelmed.  One commitment was putting new flowers on my parents’ and grandparents’ graves in the family cemetery.  Then we stopped by to see the cousin who owns the property where the cemetery is located in order to leave our annual donation for upkeep.

 

More Thrift Blocks

I managed to stitch up a batch of 14 Thrift blocks last week.  I would have made more, but several unplanned interruptions, including a chance to visit a quilt store in Buda, kept that from happening.  The fabric below the blocks is one I am considering for alternate blocks.  Since it is a tiny plaid, I may decide it would be more trouble than it’s worth to try to cut and stitch the blocks so it doesn't look wonky.

 

Our Tuesday group finished binding the quilt we completed for our deceased member.  All that is left is a label which will be done on an embroidery machine.  All of us made sure to put in a few stitches and it went much quicker than expected.  When I had finished my turn, I resumed handwork on the borders for my Kim McLean project.

 

This 1,000-piece puzzle of a sewing room took up a lot of time too, but it was fun.  I expect it will be a while before I tackle another one as we are trying to finalize plans for a trip that will be coming up shortly.

In other good news, last week we accumulated more than two inches of rain!